Nazareth residents march to protest attack on church

Posted: Sunday, March 05, 2006

NAZARETH, Israel - Thousands of Israeli Arab protesters marched through the streets of this biblical town Saturday demanding better protection for holy sites after a troubled family set off firecrackers inside a major Christian shrine.

The emotional reaction to the attack on the Basilica of the Annunciation reflected the fragile status of Israel's Arab minority, which has long claimed it suffers discrimination at the hands of the Jewish majority.

Many protesters accused the government of failing to prevent the attack, and rejected the official claim that Friday's attack was driven by personal distress, and not politically motivated.

An Israeli couple accompanied by their daughter interrupted a Lent prayer service by exploding firecrackers in the basilica, one of Christianity's most revered sites. The attack caused only light damage, but set off a riot that injured two dozen people, including 13 police officers.

Police said the man involved in the attack, Haim Eliyahu Habibi, has financial problems and apparently is not a Jewish extremist. Habibi's Christian wife, Violet, and their 20-year-old daughter were treated at a hospital before being taken into custody early Saturday.

Israeli television on Saturday showed footage of a bearded Habibi being escorted by police with a large bandage covering an injured eye, the result of a scuffle with angry worshippers.

Late Saturday, a judge extended the family's detention by 15 days. At the hearing, the parents said they meant no harm, had no hate for Christians or Muslims and merely sought to draw attention to their plight. Haim Habibi said authorities recently had placed three of his children into foster care.

"I am deeply sorry. I am not against anyone," a sobbing Violet Habibi said. "I hope we will be forgiven. Please."

But participants in Saturday's rally dismissed such explanations.

"The Israeli institution is trying to explain the aggression by saying that anyone who did this is mentally unstable," said Ramez Jaraisah, Nazareth's Christian mayor. "We refuse to accept any excuse for this criminal act."

Israel's roughly 1 million Arabs hold Israeli citizenship, in contrast to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip who live under the Palestinian Authority. However, Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the country's population, have long complained of systematic discrimination in housing, education and jobs.

Despite tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel, violence is rare.

Nazareth, the boyhood town of Jesus, is inhabited by about 74,000 Israeli Arabs, two-thirds of them Muslim and the rest are Christian.

The basilica is built on the site where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel appeared before the Virgin Mary and foretold the birth of Christ.

Several thousand people joined the protest snaking through the town's narrow streets to the basilica.

Police stayed away from the march to avoid raising tensions and the demonstration ended peacefully.

With national elections approaching at the end of the month, Israeli officials rushed to calm the fears of Arab leaders. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the mayor after Friday's attack, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni contacted the Vatican to pledge Israel's commitment to protecting Christian holy places.